Memory And Cognition

Question 1

What are the 3 components of memory and learning?

Answer 1

Hippocampus - forming new memories
Cortex - storage of memories
Thalamus - searches and accesses memories

Question 2

What are the 4 components of the limbic system?

Answer 2

Hypothalamus
Hippocampus
Cingulate gyrus
Amygdala

Question 3

What part of the limbic system is associated with ANS responses?

Answer 3

Hypothalamus

Question 4

What part of the limbic system is associated with emotion?

Answer 4

Amygdala

Question 5

What Matt of the limbic system is associated with memory?

Answer 5

Hippocampus

Question 6

What part of the limbic system does all sensory information pass through?

Answer 6

The hippocampus

Question 7

What would result if you had bitemporal hippocampal damage?

Answer 7

You would have immediate (sensory) memory that lasts few seconds
You would have intact reflexive (motor) memories
You would have intact long term memories that happened before the damage
But wouldnt be able to form new memories

Question 8

What are the subdivisions of memories and how long do they last?

Answer 8

Immediate/sensory memory - few seconds
Short term - seconds to hours
Intermediate long term - hours to weeks
Long term memory - can be life long

Question 9

What type of memory is remembering what you did last weekend?

Answer 9

Intermediate long term memory

Question 10

Do visual memories decay faster than auditory memories?

Answer 10

Visual decays faster (<1s) whereas auditory decays <4s

Question 11

In what type of memory is the reverberating circuits found which holds the memory?

Answer 11

Short term memory = electrical phenomenon

Question 12

In what type of memory is there physical changes and what are these changes?

Answer 12

Long term memory;

• structural changes at the synaptic terminal
• increase in neurotransmitter release on presynaptic membrane
• increase in number of N.T. Vesicles stored and released
• increase in number of presynaptic terminals

Question 13

What strengthens the synapse at the post synaptic terminal in long term memory?

Answer 13

Increased amplitude in graded membrane potential (EPSP) in post synaptic cells = long term potentiation

Question 14

What are the 2 types of long term memory?

Answer 14

Declarative or explicit memory

Procedural/reflexive/implicit memory

Question 15

What is the difference between declarative/explicit memory compared to procedural/reflexive/implicit memory?

Answer 15

Declarative is abstract memory for events (episodic memory) & words, rules and language (semantic memory)
Procedural is acquired slowly through repetitive i.e. playing an instrument

Question 16

Short term memory is converted to long term memory through…..?

Answer 16

Consolidation

Question 17

What is consolidation and what does it involve?

Answer 17

Consolidation is the storage of short term memory into long term memory
It involves selective strengthening of the synaptic connections through repetition

Question 18

When we are trying to remember things such as when we are revising, how is information vulnerable to being wiped out?

Answer 18

During consolidation of memory from short to long term memory, memory simply exists as electrical activity
Consolidation requires attention to strengthen the synaptic connections

Question 19

Why can we recall information from different associations such as smelling or seeing something?

Answer 19

Different components of memory are laid down in different parts of the cortex i.e. visual component is laid down in the visual cortex

Question 20

What is the papez circuit?

Answer 20

Reverberating circuit of electrical activity for consolidating memory
Hippocampus - maxillary bodies - anterior thalamus - cingulate gyrus - hippocampus etc

Question 21

What are the 2 types of amnesia and what memory is lost?

Answer 21

Anterograde - cannot form new memories

Retrograde - cannot access old memories

Question 22

What type of amnesia does someone have if they cant remember anything what happened before the accident?

Answer 22

Retrograde

Question 23

What type of amnesia has occurred if you can’t form new memories after the injury?

Answer 23

anterograde

Question 24

What is the process of intermediate long-term memory?

Answer 24

Increasing Ca entry to presynaptic terminals

Increases neurotransmitter release

Question 25

How does amnesia occur?

Answer 25

Disruption of the reverberating circuit

Question 26

What structural changes result in long term memory?

Answer 26

Increase in neurotransmitter release sites at the presynaptic membrane
Increase in neurotransmitter vesicle storage and release
Increase in number of presynaptic terminals

Question 27

How does certain smells relate to a particular memory?

Answer 27

Olfactory stimuli are relayed via the olfactory tract to the primary olfactory cortex where there are strong connections to the amygdala and hippocampus of the limbic system

Question 28

What is Korsakoff’s syndrome and how does it result in memory impairment?

Answer 28

Results from chronic alcoholism
Vitamin B1 deficiency leads to damage of limbic system structures
Therefore ability to consolidate memory is impaired

Question 29

How does Alzheimer’s disease results in impaired memory?

Answer 29

In Alzheimer’s disease there is a severe loss of cholinergic pathways throughout the brain including the hippocampus
This causes gross impairment in memory

Question 30

What is the correlation between sleep and Alzheimer’s?

Answer 30

Patients with Alzheimer’s disease have greatly reduced REM sleep
Cholinergic neurones are responsible for REM sleep and it is these cholinergic neurones which there is a significant loss of

Question 31

Why does sleep show to be important in memory consolidation?

Answer 31

Dreaming may enable memory consolidation to reenforce weak circuits
May also help up forget memories that are no longer useful
May be to tidy up memory stores so the same information can be packaged more compactly